USA Cricket on Wednesday announced the squad which will travel to South Africa for the inaugural U-19 Women’s Cricket World Cup. The tournament is set to begin on January 14 and will conclude on January 29 at Potchefstroom. 16 teams will take part in the historic event.
This is the first-ever cricket world cup for any women’s team representing the USA. The team will be led by Geetika Kodali and Anika Kolan will serve as her deputy.
Former West-Indian batter Shivnarine Chanderpaul who is now based in Orlando, Florida will serve as the head coach of the team. The legendary southpaw was appointed to the role back in July this year.
In his statement, he said that he was looking forward to the tournament after the team’s good run in Dubai recently. “After a brilliant tour of Dubai, we are focusing on final preparations for this historic World Cup for the players and for the USA. We showed throughout the year the kind of cricket that we can play. World Cups are incredibly special and we are really looking forward to representing the country on this fantastic platform.”
The USA team recently played out a bilateral series against UAE and emerged as the winners by a 3-2 margin, having won the decider which went down to a super over.
Apart from the 15-member squad, five reserves were also named by the board to provide cover for injuries.
Geetika Kodali captains the squad, with Anika Kolan named as vice-captain with 5 non-traveling reserves also announced for the upcoming U19 World Cup.#CricketTwitter pic.twitter.com/ToV1VQZX4T
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) December 15, 2022
USA Women’s Squad for U19 Women’s T20 World Cup 2023:
Geetika Kodali (c), Anika Kolan (wk & vc), Aditi Chudasama, Bhumika Bhadriraju, Disha Dhingra, Isani Vaghela, Jivana Aras, Laasya Mullapudi, Pooja Ganesh (WK), Pooja Shah, Ritu Singh, Sai Tanmayi Eyyunni, Snigdha Paul, Suhani Thadani & Taranum Chopra
Reserves: Chetnaa Prasad, Kasturi Vedantham, Lisa Ramjit, Mitali Patwardhan & Tya Gonsalves.
USA is placed in group A along with Australia, Bangladesh and Sri-Lanka. Group B features England, Rwanda, Pakistan and Zimbabwe while group C comprises Indonesia, Ireland, New Zealand and West Indies. Group D is made up of India, Scotland, United Arab Emirates and hosts, South-Africa.
Groups for ICC U19 Women’s T20 World Cup 2023
• Group A:
Australia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka. USA• Group B:
England, Pakistan, Rwanda, Zimbabwe• Group C:
Indonesia, Ireland, New Zealand, West Indies• Group D:
India, Scotland, South Africa, UAE#CricketTwitter pic.twitter.com/LWy8frff7B— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) December 15, 2022
The top three teams from each group will qualify for the super six stage, where teams will be pooled in two groups of six. The top two teams from these two groups will then qualify for the semi-finals.
